MEO AmeriCorps Focus on Makena Program receives $25,000 from Dowling Company Foundation.

Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. (MEO) received a $25,000 grant from the Dowling Company Foundation. The grant will be used to support AmeriCorps summer program participants focused on environmental concerns in the Makena area. Each year, more than 20 young people, ages 17 and older, participate in MEO’s AmeriCorps program. They are trained in everything from disaster preparedness to basic navigation.

“MEO AmeriCorps provides the volunteers to support natural resource conservation; in turn, volunteers learn skills to preserve and protect the island ecosystems, resource management, and native plant identification and preservation techniques,” said Donna Borge, MEO AmeriCorps project director. “In addition, they put new plants in the ground, preparing future ecosystems.”

These youth are protecting endangered native Hawaiian plants and animal life, eradicating invasive plants and animals, and gaining knowledge they can use and apply in the future, said Borge. Volunteers enter higher education fields of study, adding to the cadre of trained professionals who will continue to preserve endangered areas.

As part of the program, which is supported by the U.S. National Civilian Community Corporation through the University of Hawai‘i, the County of Maui, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Tides Foundation and Jim Sanders Realty, youth receive a small living stipend and a cash award which they can use to pursue higher education or with which they may pay off existing student loans.